St. Johns County officials intend to award Nopetro a contract for compressed natural gas fueling facilities, the company has announced.

Nopetro, Florida's leading CNG fueling infrastructure developer, said its plan for a public-private partnership with the county received the top ranking of the submitting companies. Once approved by the St. Johns County Commission, the agreement will lead to the construction of a turn-key CNG fueling station, the conversion of select vehicles from the county's fleet, and royalties from marketing to third-party customers.

Jorge Herrera, Nopetro CEO, said Tuesday that the St. Johns project will be based largely on the model used in Leon County. The company partnered with Leon County Schools to develop and operate a CNG fueling center to serve school buses that run on natural gas. The facility is on Capital Circle Southwest near State Road 20.

Since the facility opened in 2012, Herrera said it has attracted additional users, including city of Tallahassee and Leon County vehicles, as well as such private fleet owners as Frito Lay, Waste Pro, Saddle Creek Logistics Services and Neece Tire & Auto Service.

"What we are seeing in Tallahassee is really unprecedented," Herrera said.

St. Johns County, likewise, has potential CNG users. "We worked for nine months to audit the area, speaking with the companies and generating as much interest as we could," Herrera added.

He expects the St. Johns center to be up and running by late March 2015.

St. Johns County anticipates receiving $750,000 from the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization to facilitate the switch to CNG and will be eligible for a grant of $250,000 per year from the state. Nopetro will source natural gas from Tampa Electric Co., which has a pipeline nearby.

The company, which has offices in Tallahassee and Coral Gables, also has two more fueling facilities in the design phase, one for Osceola County and the other for Charlotte County Public Schools. Nopetro also has a facility operating in Miami Gardens that it developed with another company.

Fleet operators who switch from diesel-powered vehicles to those running on CNG save money on fuel costs and also reduce their air emissions. Switching to CNG cuts particulate matter by 89 percent, carbon monoxide by 70 percent, carbon dioxide by 25 percent and nitrous oxides by 80 percent.